The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for automatically screening catalysts to discover new catalysts useful for various catalytic reactions.
In the art of catalysis, there is little predictability between the composition and/or structure of a material and its catalytic properties. Therefore, essentially the only way to determine if a particular material is a good catalyst is by testing the material under the actual conditions encountered in the process of interest. When it is desired to discover a new catalyst useful for a particular reaction, large groups of different materials are each individually tested and those failing to show a predetermined minimal activity for the conversion of the starting material to the desired end product are screened out.
In the ongoing search for better catalysts for known reactions, one of the most time consuming jobs is the methodical screening of different potential catalysts. If this task could be automated so as to run without the aid of operating personnel during weekends and overnight, not only would the search for new catalysts be speeded up but also available manpower could be utilized on other work.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automated catalyst screening apparatus which is capable of subjecting a plurality of different catalysts to predetermined activity tests without the aid of operating personnel on an automatic basis.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an automated catalyst screening apparatus as described above which is simple in construction, inexpensive to build and constructed so as to minimize down time because of problems with hardware.